Over 8,000 firefighters battling at least 21 major wildfires face another devastating round of low humidity, arid foliage, and powerful wind gusts up to 60 mph this weekend. California’s blazing 191,437 acres of wildfire that has broken out during recent days is now be called the deadliest in state history.

The death toll from the fires has increased to 31 with a report from the Sonoma County Sheriff Thursday night of two additional fatalities. One was a 14-year-old boy found dead in his driveway in Redwood Valley. His parents were badly burned and his 17-year-old sister was so injured she had both her legs amputated.

At least 3,500 homes and businesses have been completely destroyed by the catastrophe. An estimated 25,000 people were forced to evacuate.
Some of the deceased were found in cars and trucks in an attempt to flee the firestorms. Some were inside their homes where they apparently were trapped. Others were discovered as piles of ash and bones, shockingly as if they had passed through a cremation chamber.

The most destructive of the Northern California fires, the Tubbs fire, killed at least 15 people. Santa Rosa lost 2,834 homes and approximately 400,000 square feet of commercial space, and Mayor Chris Coursey said he expects the numbers to grow.

Officials in Sonoma received 1,000 reports of missing persons. By Thursday evening about 600 people had been located, leaving 400 missing. The sheriff said damaged communication towers could be one reason people could not reach relatives. Of 77 cellular towers damaged, 64 were restored as of Thursday, officials said.

As of today fire officials announced progress for the first time this week, in 10 percent containment of the Tubbs Fire, which has grown to 34,770 acres.

The largest fire (43,762 acres), The Atlas Fire in Napa County is 7 percent contained.

The Nuns and Norrbom fires merged in Sonoma County.

21 fires total currently burn across the state and California Fire officials say they expect conditions to worsen over the coming weekend. Areas they are keeping an eye on are Sonoma, Calistoga, Middletown, and Geyserville.

San Franciscans woke up this Thursday breathing air literally as polluted as the air in Beijing. If you’re not familiar with Beijing, it is notorious for having some of the worst air quality in the world. Some people wore masks in the Californian city as they walked or rode their bikes to work, much like you would see in Beijing.

Several Bay Area schools and colleges closed due to the poor air and flights were canceled at the San Francisco International Airport. Meteorologists say there might be periods of better air quality through Sunday but this will be followed by stretches of more poor air quality.

“These fires are bringing Beijing to the Bay Area and are allowing us to see what they experience around the clock,” says Richard Muller, UC Berkeley professor of physics, co-founder of the website Berkeley Earth which tracks air quality around the globe with an interactive map. The smoke from these wildfires are producing as much pollution as a year’s worth of traffic for the state, all at once.

The amount of particulate matter in the Bay Area on October 12 were in the 151-200 range on the air quality index, which matches that in Beijing!

Famers including cannabis farmers are taking a hit due to the firestorm. The historic and newly booming cannabis market in the region are seeing some of the worst times to date. Some farmers have seen their crops completely incinerated- up in wasted smoke. Others have watched helplessly as their delicate crops are contaminated with ash and soot.

The Oakland Hills fire of 1991 killed 25 people by itself, and the Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles in 1933 killed 29. Although no single fire currently burning has killed as many as either of those, state fire Deputy Director Daniel Berlant says collectively this is the deadliest series of simultaneous fires in state history. Sadly, officials said they expected to find more bodies in the coming days.

“We had series of statewide fires in 2003, 2007, 2008 that didn’t have anything close to this death count,” said Daniel Berlant, a deputy director with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.